


Two Truths and a Lie

by circular_infinity



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Casual Max/Cam, Don’t copy to another site, F/M, Family Drama, Gen, One-sided Max/Liz, Sibling fight, Siblings, Unrequited Love, background Isobel/Noah, max has a lot of feelings in general, max has lots of feelings about liz, not all of them happy, this was written before 1x11 aired
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-14 20:05:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18483430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/circular_infinity/pseuds/circular_infinity
Summary: It's not that Max is upset that Isobel's engaged.  It's more that he's just confused.





	Two Truths and a Lie

**Author's Note:**

> Max and Isobel's fight in 1x03 had me wondering how Max had reacted when Isobel got engaged. This fic is the result.
> 
> Please note that this was about 90% written pre-4th reveal so this has nothing to do with that. It also, like all things Nobel, now has an unfortunate creepy side. Due to the fact that this story is mostly about Max and that none of the characters have an inkling at this point, I decided to keep the pre-1x11 characterization for Noah and finish it anyway.

Max notices before either of his parents do. He's not sure if it's because he's literally been trained to be observant or because it's his sister, but he sees the brand new, shiny ring on her left hand the moment Isobel and Noah arrive. He tries to catch Isobel’s eye, but she’s saying hello to his parents and he thinks she might be actively avoiding him.

"I was just getting some stuff from out back," Max says. "Isobel, can you give me a hand?"

There’s a brief pause and then Noah offers, "If you need something carried – "

"Don’t worry about it, babe," Isobel interrupts.

She follows Max out to the back porch, shutting the door behind him as she does and asks, "What? No congratulations?"

Of course she’d realized he’d noticed.

"I’m just surprised," Mas says. "I didn’t even know you two were this serious."

"Noah and I have been living together for a year," she says. "And I don’t tell you everything."

Max’s brows wrinkle involuntarily with incredulity.

"Since when?" he asks.

After the end of high school - after everything - Isobel’s sullen demeanor had all but evaporated. Maybe it was a reaction to her blackouts, or maybe it was because she was pleased they were all staying in town, but over the last eight years she's always been around, telling him about her life, getting nosy and involved in his. It’s a bit much at times, but he doesn’t mind. He’d rather that then watch her pull away like Michael.

Except now she's engaged and he feels like he should have seen this coming.

"Have you told him?" he asks.

"Told him what? Yes? Yes, I told him yes already."

"You know what I mean. Have you told him?"

They never utter the word 'alien' where they could be overheard, but she has to know what he's really asking.

"Of course not," Isobel scoffs, but it's too covered in barbs to be casual.

"Then why… don't you want to tell him?"

"No."

"You - " The idea of it is so absurd that he has to pause and start over. "You agreed to marry him and you're going to spend the rest of your life lying to him?"

"Don't you judge me."

"I'm not," he says, though he is, a little. "I'm just surprised."

"Why? This is the obvious next step in my relationship. In my life. Aren't we allowed to have lives?"

"Of course we are," he says, though he's not sure if it's true.

"So what if Noah and I aren't going to be perfect?" Isobel asks and it's sharply defensive. "I love him and I want to be with him. Life isn't a fantasy."

"I know that!"

"Do you? When as the last time you even went on a date?"

"This isn't about me," he says, too embarrassed to admit that he never has.

"No? I think you're just jealous because you're twenty-five, you've never had a real relationship and you're lonely."

Max has never shared with anyone exactly how much it hurt when Liz left him behind, so he knows that Isobel doesn't mean it to be a stab to the heart, but it's a blow all the same.

"It's not about that," he says, but maybe it is? Maybe's he is projecting. Maybe it is that he’s jealous that Isobel can have a relationship but it’s been over eight years and he's still overcome by feelings that never seem to change or fade no matter what he does or who's he with. Maybe it's that he's afraid that he's always going to miss Liz as much as he did the day after she left. Maybe it's that sometimes it feels like Isobel and Michael are all he has in this life and Michael can't stand to even be in the same room as him most of the time and what will Max do if Isobel leaves?

Isobel just crosses her arms as her lips thin into an upset line.

Max clears his throat and says again, "It's just - I'm just surprised."

"So you've said. Repeatedly. Do me a favor and try to look a little more 'happy surprised' and less 'dismayed surprised' in front of everyone else, all right?"

She gives me a smile so fake he feels like he’s getting a flashback to high school, and then she turns on her heel and stalks inside.

Max gives himself a moment to compose himself, but he doesn't feel like anything's out of control and none of the lights are flickering so he's probably safe. He takes a breath and tamps everything he's feeling down, bottling it up, as he always does, and goes inside too.

\---

He's quiet all through dinner and tries to muster up a smile when his mom notices the ring and there are several rounds of happy congratulations. Isobel's sharp grin at him tells him he's failed, so he asks if they've set a date yet. That sets off a long discussion of plans and ideas and no one seems to find it odd that he stays silent. He thinks his mom might have noticed, but he knows she'll never mention it.

After dinner Isobel and his mom go out to the kitchen to get dessert, his dad goes down to the cellar to get some champagne and Max finds himself alone in the dining room with Noah. He's never really known what to say to Noah unless they were talking about work and the feeling is even more pronounced now. Resigning himself to the awkwardness and a potentially uncomfortable conversation with Isobel later, Max starts clearing the table in silence.

Almost surprisingly, it's Noah who breaks it.

"So is this the part where you give me a 'if you hurt my sister' speech?"

"Nah," Max says. "That's a patriarchal practice that hinges on the assumption that Isobel can't take care herself."

"How very enlightened of you," Noah says.

"I've been reading."

Max's dad comes back from the cellar and asks, "Is Max trying to tell you about the latest book he's discovered? Don't let him. He'll go on for ages."

"Not ages," Max says as Noah laughs good naturedly.

Max carries a stack of dishes to the kitchen and gets back to the dining room in time to see his dad clapping Noah firmly on the shoulder.

"Noah," he says. "I just want you to know how happy I am for you and Isobel. And if you ever hurt my baby girl I want you to remember that Max is a cop and they will never find your body."

Noah laughs nervously as Max says, "Oh no, don't drag me into this."

"You wouldn't defend your sister?"

"Of course I would, but we don't need to threaten her fiancé."

"Who's threatening my fiancé?" Isobel asks from the doorway.

"No one," their dad says at the same time Max says, "I'm not."

Isobel gives them a flat skeptical look.

"Really," Max says.

\---

After dessert Isobel and Noah leave and Max stays to help his mom with the dishes. He washes while she dries and they're about halfway done when she speaks.

"You know," she says, her voice too perfectly casual to the real. "If you have a girlfriend you can bring her to these dinners if you want."

"I don't, but thanks," he says, already not looking forward to the rest of the conversation.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" she asks.

Max's eyebrows go up, but he's not sure if he's more surprised at the question or the fact that his mom asked it at all.

"No boyfriend either," he says. "When there's someone to bring here I'll bring them. There just hasn't been."

"You know it would be completely fine with your father and me if you have boyfriends," she says. "I don't want you to think that you have to hide anything from us."

"There's nothing to tell," he says though it feels like a lie.

"There's never anything to tell, is there?"

"My life is normal, Mom. I like it that way."

"I just worry about you sometimes," his mom says. "And you know that now Isobel is engaged you know that the two of can't have the same relationship you've had in the past."

"What are you talking about?"

"You two were always such a unit, but from now on you can't be her first priority. That has to be Noah."

"I know that."

And he does know that. It's a perfectly normal, reasonable thing. Most people wouldn't think twice.

"It's all right for you to do the same."

"What, put Noah first?" Max only says it because he knows it'll get a laugh, which it does, but she isn't derailed.

"No," his mom says. "It's okay to find someone special and then you can put her first in your life."

For anyone else it would be, but he did that before and it ended with three dead girls and their blood on his sister's hands. Even if there could be someone other than Liz for him, it's not a risk he can ever take again.

"Yeah, I know," he says and that time it's definitely a lie.

\---

Max broods about it as he sets out to drive home. There’s a part of him that's relieved that Isobel doesn’t want to tell Noah, but at the same time he just doesn’t understand it. He knows that eventually he would have wanted to tell Liz. They hadn't even officially started dating and he'd already wanted to tell her. He can't imagine being with someone - marrying someone - and not sharing everything about himself with them. Maybe he's just being stupid again. Living in a fictional world instead of the real one. Life isn't like books. No relationships are perfect. He's in no position to judge. He needs to apologize.

\---

The lights are still on in the living room when Max pulls up by the curb outside Isobel's house so he hopes they're still up and not busy. When he knocks on the front door there's a long pause before Isobel answers.

"I'm sorry," Max says as soon as she does. "It's not fair of me to be mad at you for making different choices then what I would have made."

Isobel sighs and crosses her arms, but says, "Apology accepted."

"Also sorry for showing up so late, but I didn't want to leave this until tomorrow. I'll let you get back to things.”

He moves to go, but Isobel stops him.

"Wait, Max. Are you really okay with this?"

"Do I have to be?" he asks.

She’s certainly not asking permission and really it would be weird if she did.

"I'd like you to be."

Max lets out a breath and says honestly, "I don't get it, but if you're happy then I'm happy."

"That's not the same thing."

"No, but it's true."

Isobel scrutinizes him for a moment.

"Does this mean you'll be my man of honor?"

"Is that a thing?" he asks.

"It is at my wedding."

"Then, yes. Of course. I'd be honored."

\---

He knows that seeking out Michael for company is bound to go badly but he needs to talk to someone about this so he drives to the Wild Pony.

He spots him in one of the booths on the far wall and goes over. At the look on Michael's face as he sees Max has Max thinking that he probably should have just called, but it's not like Michael would have answered anyway. He slides into the seat across from him.

"Here to arrest me, Officer?" Michael asks.

"No," Max says, knowing that he probably has no right to be hurt by the question, but still is.

“Then why would you grace me with your presence.”

“Have you talked to Isobel lately?” he asks.

Now that he's here he's belated realizing that Michael might not know that Isobel's engaged yet and she should be able to tell Michael the news herself.

“You mean do I know that she's engaged?” Michael asks. “Yeah, I know.”

“She said she hadn’t told him about, you know,” Max says.

Michael shoots Max a bland look.

“Of course she didn’t tell him,” he says. “Did you think she had?”

“I’d think she’d want to.”

At that Michael gives a short laugh and shakes his head down at his drink. He doesn’t instantly tell Max to go or get up to leave himself so Max decides to test the opening.

"It's been years and I've been thinking - "

"You're only here because Isobel's getting married," Michael interrupts. "And you two had a fight. And now you're sad and lonely because no one wants to be around you."

And it looks like Michael's in an even worse mood than Max had originally hoped. Or more likely he's mad at Max on Isobel's behalf and Max can't really blame him for that.

"She called you," Max says.

"She said was going to tell me in person, but then she wanted to complain about you. Which she did. At length."

"We've sorted it out."

"You two always do."

He should have just called. He almost stands to leave, but at the last second he stops to ask, "You don't think it's weird?"

"What? That she's getting married?"

"That she's getting married and doesn't want to tell him."

"No man," Michael says and it's his ' _you're being an idiot_ ' voice. "Maybe for you or me, but not for her. She's always been like this."

"Not always."

"Not always with us, but with everyone else?"

He lets the sentence trail off and in the silence Max has to concede that Michael's right so he nods.

"Do you think that you and I can figure out a way to get along?" Max asks. "At least for the wedding?"

Michael looks aggrieved and put upon, but he gives a nod that looks more like a sigh of defeat.

"Yes," he says. "We can be in the same room for the wedding. For Isobel. Not for you."

"I know," Max says. "Thank you."

Michael gives him a way that's half ' _goodbye_ ' and half ' _go away_ ' so Max does, trying to ignore how much it bothers him. Their relationship might have been a lot different if Max - well, if Max had done a lot things differently. He always tries not to let himself drown in his regrets, but as Max gets into his Jeep that’s all he can think of. Of his failures with Michael and his failures with Isobel. Of times he should have done better, but he didn't. No wonder Liz left without as much as a goodbye. He doesn’t think he’d stick around for him either.

Thoughts like these never do him any good, Max tries to remind himself. His spirals only lead downwards and he needs to stop letting them happen. He already has a better life than he deserves. He tries to remember that, as he always does, but tonight Isobel’s and Michael's comments echo in his brain. They're right. He is lonely. He has been for years.

He's always had this thought lodged in the back of his mind, this idea that if Liz hadn't left they would have made it work, and it could be them who was getting married. It's a secret, little, 'what if' fantasy that sometimes makes him feel better when nothing else does, but tonight he can't ignore how stupid it is. Liz left without him because she didn't want him in her life. Even if she hadn't, he could never have been with her and pretended that he was a normal human or lied to her face about what happened to Rosa. He could have never told her so they never would have lasted.

Even if he could, somehow, fall in love with someone else, someone other than Liz Ortecho, he could never tell them either so no one will ever last. He's always going to be like this, this tired, this lonely, this foolish. Some nights the rest of his life seems so very long.

\---

He doesn’t want to go home so he goes into work instead. He's not really behind on his paperwork, but there's some busy work he knows he could do and he really wants something, anything, to occupy his thoughts other than Liz and how stupid he feels.

To his surprise, he finds Cam there. She's not in uniform and is at her desk looking blankly down at a file. She starts when Max greets her.

“Wow,” she says. "You look like you had a shitty day.”

"So do you."

"That's 'cause I did."

"What happened?" Max asks.

"Family stuff," Cam says. "I don't really want to talk about it. You?"

"Also family stuff. My sister's engaged."

"And that's a problem? You don't like the guy?"

"No, I like him just fine, it's just it's always been us. I don't know, it's probably weird, but there's nothing that reminds you that you've been single for ages like your twin getting married."

"That's rough," she says and sounds genuinely sympathetic. "I didn't know you two were twins."

"Yup."

"So why is a guy as hot as you single?"

Max raises his brows at that. There's been an attraction between them since they met, but they work together and he didn't expect her to cross that line. He certainly never intended to.

"Mostly because I go home and read instead of going out on dates," he says, which is technically true but is an incredibly simplistic version of events.

"But not tonight."

"Not tonight."

Cam looks at him for a moment, puts the file in a desk drawer and stands.

"So how about you come home with me instead?" she asks.

Max thinks he must have misunderstood. "Excuse me?"

"Do you want to come home with me," Cam repeats. "For sex."

"I can't be in a relationship right now," he says.

"Who said anything about a relationship?" she asks. "I'm asking if you want to hook up, not if you want to get married. No strings, one time only. What do you say?"

Any other day he might have turned her down but it's different tonight. He doesn't want to go back to his empty house that's in the middle of nowhere because he can't risk living anywhere closer to town. His empty house that he'll never share with anyone.

He knows that this is probably going to cause more problems than it solves, but Cam is looking at him and he can't help but think it would be nice to be alone with someone for change.

“Yeah,” he says. “Okay.”

Cam nods.

“Good,” she says. “We’re going to my place.”

She starts out of the office without another word, clearly expecting him to follow. He does. Her apartment’s within walking distance and they make it the whole way without saying a word. They're barely inside when she spins, pushes him back into the door and moves into his space to kiss him roughly. This is how she wants it? Fine by him. She’s hurried, already tugging off his shirt and at his belt and Max feels his heart rate start to rise. When there's no power surge he’s simultaneously relieved and disappointed. Liz made him short out the entire school once by touching him with her thumb and another woman palms him through his jeans and there isn't even a flicker.

 _Stop thinking about her_ , he demands of himself.

“A tattoo, Evans?” Cam asks with surprise as she pushes his button-up off his shoulders. “Who knew you had hidden depths?”

“I don't,” he says and it’s both a truth and a lie, but in that moment it doesn't matter either way.


End file.
